I am a long time user of Flash Builder. I write *.mxml and *.as files. They get compiled to *.swf files that run in a Flash Player. This has been the most powerful and portable development system for the Web up until Jobs killed it. In response, Adobe has changed focus. According to the hype, Adobe has made Flash Builder do something more to address iOS, mobile, et al. The problem is that, for the life of me, I can't get past all the marketing BS to understand what Flash Builder now does (to address iOS, HTML5, etc.). Can someone please explain to me what Flash Builder now does besides generate swf files from *.as and *.mxml files in programmer speak without the hype? Now, as I too, am forced to look for a different portable solution, I'd like to at least understand what Adobe is talking about.

Android devices have an Adobe AIR install so the .swf files are interpreted like normal.

For iOS - Adobe actually compiles into native code and runs like any other app would. The downside to this is you can't load .swf files that have timeline code or linkage in the library because those have not been compiled into native code and there is no interpreter to run the commands.